Adventure Reloaded!
by 0 Jordinio 0
Summary: Ash Ketchum had no idea how he got to this strange but familiar world. Everything is just as he knows, yet completely different at the same time. His only clue is the Black Stone he picked up during his journey in Unova. His only option is to awaken the dragon within. And to do that, he needed a lot of electrical power. He needed the power of a legend, one born of lightning.
1. Chapter 1

**So you know, I've always wanted to throw Ash into the Adventures universe. The Adventures manga is awesome. I love it. I love the girls, I love the battles. I just love the shit out of it. Granted, rare pokemon are presented as common as hell. Red even like just ignores a perfectly obtainable Dratini in the Viridian Forest when he saves Yellow. You know, one of those pokemon Giovanni let loose in the forest with all the others to build his giant pokemon army. Why he didn't just put them in pokeballs I'll never know.**

 **But on that subject. Do you guys know when Giovanni started putting the pokemon in there? It could be a big boon to Ash here if it was done this early. And I mean early as in mere hours after Red started his journey with Poli and Saur.**

 **Well if you know, get back to me will you? A different perspective is always helpful.**

 **Anyway, hope you guys enjoy. Read Away!**

* * *

Ash Ketchum had only been awake for five minutes. But those five minutes were well and enough time to conclude that everything around him was wrong.

He stared at the pokedex in his hand, his disbelieving eyes finding it incredibly hard to accept. The map was stating he was in Viridian City.

How could this be Viridian?

The young black haired trainer cast his eyes around him, taking in the scantily populated city. IF it could even be called that. Houses and buildings were placed quite far apart, there was so much space they didn't need to squash the houses together unlike the bustling city of Viridian he knew.

The roads and paths were roughly cobbled, stray parts of grass sticking out here and there, wild and untamed. And the even bigger surprise was the building he was currently standing in front of.

The Viridian City Gym. It looked nothing like the massive, grandiose building he'd battled in twice before, once to earn his Earth Badge and the other for a battle against Agatha of the Elite Four.

It was as if it were Viridian City of like twenty years ago. Except the date on one of the papers at a local stand was the exact same date he remembered.

So what was going on here?

"Is this your doing?" Ash asked, narrowing his eyes at the black sphere held under one arm.

As expected though, there was no response. The Black Stone lay dormant, hell it was even cold to the touch. It had never been cold to the touch before, there had always been a pleasant warmth whenever he was in contact with it and the feeling that he could accomplish anything he set his mind to.

What was more worrying though, was that he had none of his pokemon with him. Not even Pikachu. He had a bunch of supplies in his bag, a load of empty pokeballs in his pocket and the money in his wallet that he'd thankfully stocked up on not long ago at least worked here if the newspaper stand was anything to go by.

He even still had his black Z-bracelet clasped around his wrist and the Key Stone hanging around his neck by a chain, something he got from Brock and Misty, apparently both them and he got them from Lance due to services rendered. A reward long time deserved.

He had to find the mega stones themselves by his own though.

"At least Pikachu and the others will be fine at the ranch," Ash sighed to himself in relief. He'd just taken a quick trip home on a plane while his school in Alola was out for a week or so break. He thought it would be great for everyone, Rowlet, Torracat and Lycanroc to meet and train with all of his older and much more experienced pokemon since they didn't get the chance to on that mini vacation to visit Kanto with his class.

"Ugh," he groaned. What to do, what to do?

He had no idea why he had the dormant Black Stone with him. For one thing, when he left Unova he made it a comfortable little shrine in the closet of his bedroom and left it there. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep in his bed while Pikachu and his other Alola pokemon were off enjoying the night at the ranch with his other pokemon.

And for one thing, the dragon of ideals didn't have any space or time warping powers. Hell, the Zekrom he knew didn't have anything besides really attack moves that he could remember.

From what he could recall, its attacks were; Thunderbolt, Fusion Bolt, Bolt Strike, Dragon Claw, Dragon Breath and err….Thunder Punch?

It was hard to remember, but in his defence he only fought a few battles with the black dragon before he returned to his slumber and it had been a good year and a half since then.

But again that came with the problem. Zekrom obviously had something to do with what was going on, otherwise the Black Stone wouldn't come with him when he arrived, wherever or whenever he was.

That or it could just be their connection as dragon of ideals and hero of ideals. But he couldn't dwell on that, this was the only plan of action he could think of right now besides trying to find Dialga. Either way he'd still need Zekrom's power.

The problem itself was waking up the black dragon. He knew only two ways. One was for a great calamity to come about and one where his ideals were upheld tightly, something where Zekrom's power alone would be needed to win the day.

Or he supercharged the stone with enough electric power to wake him up fully. And that was going to be a stretch and a half. For one, not even letting Pikachu use up all his juice alongside a lightning storm had been enough to wake the dragon up.

That left him with only one option. A legendary electric type.

Ash swung his bag over his shoulder before setting the stone inside, a grimace on his face, "Looks like I'm searching for a Zapdos," he grunted in annoyance. Or a Raikou, but they were even more elusive. He had no desire to chase one of the legendary dogs all around the regions.

He wondered idly if the legendary birds were still hanging around the Shimouti Islands wherever here was.

Those were the strongest incarnations of the birds he'd ever seen, they could have even given Rayquaza and the like a good battle. And here he was without any pokemon at all. If only he had Charizard with him.

No doubt his first fire type was stronger. Back in Unova he'd overpowered Reshiram, and while Zekrom would have the type advantage if they fought, it had been a year and a half longer still for Charizard to get even stronger.

Ash withheld a sigh of lament. Why was it than when he really needed Charizard the most, he never had his strongest on hand?

The raven haired teen shook his head and slapped his cheeks, "Head in the game Ketchum!" he admonished himself. He had a plan, he just needed to get some pokemon and train them up enough for them to hold their own against a Zapdos. Easier said than done, but he'd done so before. Little Noibat immediately after evolving into a Noivern had done well against a Zapdos alone.

But, while he was here, he may as well check out the insides of Viridian Gym, it looked completely deserted and the doors were rotted to the point where they looked like they would fall of their hinges at the slightest touch.

Making his way over the doors, the raven haired trainer pushed the doors open gently, wincing slightly at the rackety, creaking groan they let out as he opened them up.

His first thought as he entered the gym, was that it was disappointing. It was just a very dark, widespread room covered in dust and cobwebs. Some Spinarak had probably set up shop in here at some point.

Walking in a few steps, he paused as he caught sight of a statue slightly to his side and both of his eyebrows raised in surprise, "Dad?" Ash blurted out, his voice tinged with incredulous disbelief.

The statue itself was a simple bust. A bust that looked exactly like his father Giovanni whom he'd not seen since his last birthday. While not very attentive, his dad did check in on him from time to make sure nothing was going amiss and he was financially set. That and to keep urging him to continue the pursuit of his goal.

Funnily enough, his dad was truly the only one whom fully supported his dream to become a Pokemon Master. Actually, he was really and truly proud that Ash shot for the stars in his goals. Something about him expecting no less than his son.

He stared intently at the statue, noting that the statue version of him looked a bit younger than he remembered. Odd, very odd. "Why the hell is there a statue of my dad here?" he asked aloud, not expecting an answer.

He knew his dad was the Viridian City Gym Leader at one point. But he resigned after the building got blown up because of the three stooges. He'd been really disappointed that he hadn't got to battle his dad that day he was going for his eighth badge, but was slightly mollified in learning that those three powerful pokemon the rocket stooges used, the Rhydon, Machamp and Kingler were all his father's.

A loud groan tore him from his thoughts. Whirling around in surprise, Ash narrowed his eyes and peered intently into the darkened gym and finally noticed something he'd just glazed over when he entered the room.

A bipedal, human like figure laying flat on its back in the middle of the room. How did he miss that?

"Wonder what it is?" Ash mused to himself, stuffing his hands into his pockets and making his way over. The closer he got, the more details he could make out in the darkened room and came to realize just what the figure was.

The very large figure. The reptilian face, the long and powerfully muscled limbs. It was without a doubt a Machoke. But not only that, it was covered in light burns and appeared to be rather unconscious.

What the heck was a Machoke doing laying out cold in an abandoned gym? They usually stuck to mountain ares, training themselves by breaking and lifting boulders.

"What happened to you?" Ash asked as he reached the fighting type pokemon and stood by its side. He knelt down and gosted his hands over the pokemons body without, fear, taking in the extent of its injuries.

"A fire type attack didn't do this to you." He mused to himself. He knew a lot about fire type attack based injuries, he'd gotten his fare share of them from Charizard and even Infernape when he lost control before he fully mastered his Blaze. It wasn't an electrical burn either, if it was the pokemons muscles would still be spasming slightly here and there. And he knew even more about electrical burns than fire based ones.

"Thanks a bunch Pikachu," he snorted.

And the smell in the air. There was no burning or sulphur like smell. It smelt slightly of something flowery actually.

And he knew what it was.

"Took a Solarbeam straight on, huh?" Ash chuckled, "I don't envy you, Sceptile and Bulbasaur could probably demolish this entire Gym with ease in one shot." Especially Bulbasaur. His first grass type had mastered Solarbeam to a degree Ash had never heard of. Able to shoot it off in an instant, making signals and patterns with it, even control it mid-flight and change its direction.

He supposed Bulbasaur had felt a little emasculated when Sceptile came in and took over as his strongest grass type without much issue. Especially since Sceptile could use Frenza Plant and Bulbasaur couldn't.

To be fair, when they fought to decide who was the strongest of the grass types, Bulbasaur had put up a hell of a fight and made Sceptile really work for it. It was a bit too bad Bulbasaur didn't want to evolve, if he did he'd probably be a monster of Charizard's level. And he even knew how to train a Venasaur on how to be quick and agile thanks to the time he spent in Sanpei's ninja village during his journey through Kalos. He'd ended up asking Sanpei's older brother Nihei after seeing his own ninja Venusaur in action, just in case the day ever came that Bulbasaur felt the need to evolve.

He knew Bulbasaur had his eyes on May's Venusaur who was very taken with Bulbasaur as well. Mating for them would be a bit of a problem due to their size difference, so Ash was just waiting for Bulbasaur to decide if love won out over pride.

He turned his attention back to Machoke and gave a humm of thought. "I've not no pokemon on me and Machoke are pretty strong," he commented, reaching into his pocket and fingering an empty pokeball.

He hesitated for a brief moment. He usually didn't do this. He usually caught pokemon when they were fully aware that he was going for it, or they just tagged along themselves. He'd never found an unconscious pokemon and just took advantage of them for a quick capture like this.

Ash didn't like it. It took the fun out of training and catching pokemon. Made him feel a bit like Paul from before he lightened up a bit, just picking up any strong looking pokemon with any chance he got. He remembered the way Paul took advantage of a city's near panic just to catch his own Gliscor. A Gliscor he rarely ever used.

But the only other alternatives were buying a pokemon which was just plain sad. Or physically beating a pokemon down himself and catching it. He could do it. Ash knew he could. He could probably just head for Viridian Forest, find the first Beedrill he could and punch it out. He'd punched his fair share of Beedrill out that one time Sceptile got injured and couldn't use attacks. He could do it again.

But actively seeking a pokemon out just to beat it up, not battle it fairly left a bad taste in his mouth. That wasn't pokemon training, that was just cruelty. He knew in an abstract sense that, it wasn't really all that different from getting his own pokemon to beat them down before he caught them. But still, Ash loved pokemon, he didn't like hurting them. He only ever physically attacked a pokemon when things were dire.

In the end, Ash had to swallow his pride, he knew it. This was the lesser of the two evils and Machoke needed to get some treatment anyway.

With a sigh, he pulled the pokeball from his pocket and gently touched it to the out cold fighting type. It burst open and Machoke was sucked inside. The ping of successful capture was almost instantaneous, the pokemon unable to put up much of a fight being unconscious as it was.

"This sucks." Ash growled in annoyance, his amber eyes narrowing in displeasure of the situation as a whole.

But, there was no use dwelling on it. Right now this was reality and he'd just gotten a new pokemon that needed to be treated.

He may as well get things moving along.

Grabbing the pokedex from his pocket again where he'd stashed it when he entered the gym. His Kalos dex at that - where was Rotom Dex? - and pointed it at the pokeball in his hand, hitting the scan button.

"Machoke, the Superpower Pokémon. With enough strength to lift a giant truck with one hand, Machoke are often used for extremely heavy work. Gender: Male, Height: 5'8 - Attacks Known: Low Kick, Karate Chop, Seismic Toss, Knock Off."

Ash frowned slightly, "That's rather basic," he commented to himself. More of a move set he'd expect from a Machop and not a Machoke. Seismic Toss was an issue. He'd perfected it with Charizard and his flight. Hell even as a Charmeleon they could make it work because of how fast he was and the sheer strength packed into his frame.

As a Charmeleon he may have never listened to him. But he was always interested in getting stronger so he'd followed Ash's instructions and focused his training on getting as physically strong as possible.

That harsh physically conditioning he put the fire type through back then was probably why he evolved into a Charizard so quickly. Only two weeks or so after becoming a Charmeleon.

Well at least it knew Knock Off, that was a pretty good attack and set it up for dealing with ghosts and psychic types.

But damn this Machoke was massive. It was actually two inches taller than him. That was impressive as hell considering the average Machoke topped out at an inch or so under five feet tall.

"Maybe that's why it's evolved and has such a basic move pool?" Ash hummed to himself in thought. He knew the Machop to Machamp line was all about physical strength. A Machoke like this that physically outrstripped the average specimen of his species must have evolved quicker due to his sheer physical power. Most Machoke after all, even wild ones had a ranged attack to fall back on like Rock Slide, Fire Blast or Focus Blast.

Still he could work with this. Too bad he couldn't learn Hyper Beam until he was a Machamp, but there were still a ton of moves he could teach this guy. And he always had the Z Crystals to fall back on if things got rough.

Either way, none of that mattered until he got the fighting type all healed up.

Placing his bag on the dusty floor, Ash opened it up, reaching past the Back Stone to grab an orange spray bottle, a Super Potion before closing it and turning around. Then he released the pokemon within the pokeball in a burst of light.

To Ash's surprise, when the pokemon appeared laying on his back, the fighting types eyes were open and narrowed dangerously A threatening growl left the reptilian pokemons mouth and it tried to push itself up.

Ash rolled his eyes, putting the pokeball on his belt and then with his now free hand placed it on the Machoke's chest and pushed.

"Choke!?" Machoke grunted in surprise, eyes wide as it found itself pushed down easily.

Ash grinned, "You may be strong as hell, but I'm not so weak myself," he told the pokemon struggling against his hand. To be honest, Ash didn't really know just how strong he was. It started with Snorlax and then carrying Larvitar around for weeks on end. He just seemed to get stronger and stronger. "Now I know you're probably pissed off that I caught you while you were out cold, but bare with it for now while I heal you while ya?"

Machoke grunted in annoyance, but stopped struggling under his hand, laying limp and closing his eyes.

Ash smiled in approval,"Good man," he told the fighting type, raising the super potion up and towards the pokemon, "Now brace yourself, this will sting a little bit, but it'll take care of your injuries in a flash." thankfully, all of Machokes burns were superficial. It didn't look like it was hit by a very powerful Solarbeam, more like a beginner who had no idea how to concentrate the power by the looks of it.

Granted, the first time his Bulbasaur used Solarbeam, it would have left the Machoke beside him comatose and in critical condition. So odds were the pokemon that used Solarbeam on Machoke was a lot weaker than his Bulbasaur was back then.

Machoke hissed and jerked underneath his hand as the medicinal spray was juiced over his wounds. Almost like a flash they began to hiss with steam and the wounds healed up in a few

seconds.

"Machoke!?" the fighting type cried out in surprise once the stinging sensation stopped and he opened his eyes. Ash could see the pokemon stare at his now absent wounds in disbelief. Had this pokemon never been healed up before? Very odd, since even Oran and Sitrus berries that most pokemon tended to eat in the wild had strong healing properties.

Stowing the orange bottle of medicine in his bag again, Ash swung it up on his back before standing up. The action drew the fighting types attention and Ash smiled, holding a hand out to the fighting pokemon.

Surprisingly, the pokemon took his offered hand and Ash pulled the pokemon to his feet without effort. And now they stood eye to eye, Machoke appearing to try and stare him down or something like that from the look in his eyes.

Ash didn't really mind. All things considered, he was sure he could take it on of things got violent. At the very least enough to get the hell out of dodge if it attacked.

He wasn't nervous at all though. He regularly stared down a herd of Tauros that grew in size by the years and got trampled affectionately by the ever growing herd nearly every time he turned up to visit all his pokemon at the Oak Ranch.

"So, I caught you," Ash said bluntly. Machoke grunted in understanding, eyes flinty with irritation. Ash sighed, "Look, I'm in a bit of a bind at the moment and can't get any of my other pokemon and you look like a strong pokemon that would be a big help."

The only interest in the pokemon from his statement came in the form of a raised eyebrow, "If you don't want to be my pokemon, I'll let you go," Ash said and noticed the pokemon's eyes widen at the statement, but he pushed on regardless, "I'll tell you this though, I've trained the weakest of pokemon that couldn't even take on a common Pidgey into absolute monsters able to battle with pokemon of legend like Zapdos and such."

This time Machoke actually let loose a full blown snort that evolved into a rumbling laughter, looking at Ash as if he was an idiot.

The trainer merely grinned. Pulling his pokedex back out he quickly accessed the photo gallery, "You think I'm kidding?" Ash asked with an arched brow of his own. He found what he was looking for a moment later and then held up the Pokedex, screen facing Machoke.

The fighting type choked on his laugh, spittle flying from his mouth and eyes widening in disbelief. For upon the screen of the pokedex there was a picture. Two pokemon, one standing and one down. One a massive orange dragon standing tall and proud, while at its feet lay the blue winged, limp and defeated form of a pokemon as unique and beautiful to behold as the snowflakes falling from its wings even in its fallen state.

That awe inspiring beauty could be no other than the legendary Articuno.

Machoke looked to Ash with wide eyes as he stowed the pokedex away again. A confident smirk appearing on the black haired teens face, "If you come with me, I'll make you strong enough to fight even the legendary pokemon and not be found wanting," Ash offered his hand, "What do ya say? Wanna tag along with me?"

There was a tense silence for a moment. Before Machoke closed his eyes and grunted in acceptance, reaching out to grasp Ash's had in a tight grip.

Then things took a sudden and abrupt turn. Ash's other hand lashed out and grabbed Machoke under his bicep and before the fighting type could even react, Ash twisted on his feet and tossed the muscular pokemon flying over his shoulder.

Machoke grunted in more shock than pain as he hit the ground and looked up at Ash with eyes wide wondering what was going on.

Ash merely smirked and the pokemon on the floor, "Training begins now!" he declared, cracking his knuckles as a flash originated from the black bracelet on his wrist and atop it appeared a brown crystal with the emblem of a fist embedded within it.

The amber eyed teen shook his head, "You weren't ready."

"You were slow to react!" Ash lectured and Machoke suddenly found himself rushing to stand up and listen attentively, "Your reflexes aren't up to par either!"

Machoke's eyes turned towards the ground in shame. First being bested so easily by Solarbeam and now being tossed around by a human. How low could he sink?

He was torn from his self deprecation in a instant though, "But you've got a good strong build to you!" Ash continued onwards, "You're bigger than any Machoke I've ever seen and when you learn to properly use all that muscle you have you'll be a beast of a fighter."

Again Machoke found himself in awe of this human who just came out of nowhere and captured him. They'd known each other less than ten minutes and already they were firing straight into training.

Excitement began to build within the pokemon. What was he going to learn under his new trainer? The image of that massive Charizard standing above a legendary pokemon flashed in his mind and Machoke surged with desire to train.

Ash saw it all. He saw the excitement, the eager desire to obtain strength. It was actually an easy sight to find in a motivated fighting type. At least Machoke appeared to be calmer than Hawlucha. The show off flying fighter would probably already be bouncing around the room punching and kicking everything in sight.

He was going to cover all his bases with Machoke here. Get him ready to fight any challenge. Teach him how to deal with all types, teach him new attacks, maybe get him experience fighting Gym Leaders. If this abandoned gym was anything to go by, there was a gym circuit at the very least and while his wallet was stacked right now, enough for a full journey, it wouldn't last him forever and he had no access to his bank account here.

Priorities Ash decided on. Flamethrower, Rock Slide, Focus Blast, Thunder Punch, Poison Jab, Dual Chop, Ice Punch, Close Combat. All attacks he'd seen Machoke use before in his travels. He needed to teach him all of those to cover his bases, especially since the tall fighting type pokemon was all he had with him right now. Although it would be hard without the likes of Pikachu to shock Machoke lightly till he got a hold of using electric energy to learn the likes of Thunder Punch.

It was always easier to teach a pokemon elemental attacks when you had one of those types on hand to let the other pokemon get a feel for it.

Again, priorities. Ash didn't know what was out there waiting for him in this odd world, but it was most likely dangerous. He wasn't leaving this gym until Machoke learned two very specific moves.

The raven haired trainer stared intently at the fighting type who eagerly stared right back at him, "We need to train and get into sync with each other," Ash told his newest pokemon, "And when we're in total sync with each other, I'll teach you two extremely powerful attacks that will let you bring down even the toughest of foes."

Machokes crimson red eyes were so wide in eagerness they looked to be almost popping out of his head, bouncing on the tips of his large muscular feet in excitement.

"The attacks you're going to learn right now are known as Z-moves, and the ones I'll be able to teach you to use right now, "Ash paused almost dramatically, "Are All-Out Pummeling and the Black Hole Eclipse."

Machoke had no time to do anything before Ash continued on. Planting his legs apart and strengthening his core stance, he beckoned Machoke over to him, "Now, come join me and do what I do!" Ash ordered and Machoke could not help but comply. Ash thrust his hand out in a powerful punch, "follow my movements, copy me exactly, match my timing. We must be in perfect synch or the Z-moves will backfire on us instead."

It was a long and hard twelve hours before Machoke even got a break from the intense synchronization training.

* * *

 **So Ash has no idea what is going on. But he's getting prepared just in case. And he follows up just a few hours behind Red, catching the Machoke, Saur defeated with Solarbeam at the very beginning of his journey in chapter 2. You know, I always wondered why Red didn't catch that Machoke, it would have been easy pickings.**

 **Very silly huh?**

 **Anyway,as I mentioned above. Knowing when Giovanni put those pokemon in the forest would be a big help. But then again, I tossed Ash in here without any pokemon for a reason. It would kind of defeat the purpose if he caught that Dratini or something right off the bad in the Viridian Forest. No matter how badly I want to write about a Dratini wrapping around someone and using Thunderbolt, it would be so epic.**

 **Either way, Ash isn't playing around. He's an experienced trainer and has both a completed Z-ring and key stone, having come from a little bit in the future from canon Alola Ash. He's going after legendaries, Zapdos in particular and he's coming strong.**

 **Still leaves me the dilemma of what pokemon to have Ash catch in the forest. I already have a plan for his third one and it will be gained during a confrontation with Team Rocket. If any of you can guess what pokemon I'll...give you a prize or something. Like add something to the story you'd like.**

 **Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed. I'm off to re-read the manga again.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I have been binge writing like hell guys. So many drabbles, commissions and fanfiction work. And not even a day later I got this baby out. Granted, don't expect another tomorrow, I really need to re-read the whole manga again to re-learn a lot of the mechanics of the manga-verse.**

 **Gotta admit, was kind of disappointed with the serious lack of reviews. But I suppose fanfiction is dead nowadays. So not much can be done there. Oh well. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter at least.**

* * *

It was as he and Machoke both made their way into the Viridian Forest that Ash noticed something odd. He'd been going through all the information the pokedex had on the Machop to Machamp line, researching all he could about the species as a whole when he saw it.

The entry on the Machoke himself. At first, it looked all fine. Listing the details of his pokemon such as his height, weight, moves, being registered under himself as his trainer but then he found a little something extra at the bottom.

Pokemon Species - Machoke

Nickname - N/A

Gender - Male

Height - 5'08

Weight - 183.6 lbs

Attacks Known - Low Kick, Karate Chop, Seismic Toss, Knock Off

Ability - Guts

Level - 14

Level!?

As far as Ash was aware, a numeric value for a pokemon's strength level was completely fictional. The only place that still used used such things were places like Poketech Academy, and only for the general point of maturity a pokemon could learn specific attacks and such.

That was completely stupid.

Giselle way back then had harped on and on about about Pikachu having to be at least level twenty five to learn Thunderbolt. Except, Pikachu had known Thunderbolt since the moment they met. And according to her starter pokemon were always level five.

That was the last he heard about it.

But really, level 14? That was a bit insulting for a Machoke wasn't it? Especially with all that training Ash made it go through to learn the Z-poses.

He remembered playing the old pokemon games where you went through Kanto starting from Pallet Town. Getting a starter of either Squirtle, Charmander or took like ten minutes to get to level 14 after you beat up a few Metapod or Kakuna.

And he had a Machamp once in the game. He knew Machop didn't evolve into Machoke until level 28, so what the hell?

Speaking of Machoke - a deep hiss of annoyance behind Ash caught his attention. Turning his head so that one amber eye peered back behind nim in curiosity, he watched as the Machoke struggled to contain a small ball of flame between his large hands. Every moment or so it would fluctuate, spreading across one of his hands before beginning to putter out, causing Machoke to hurriedly center the flames in between his muscular hands once more.

"Still not much luck eh?" the raven haired trainer questioned with a smile.

Machoke looked up at him from his intense concentration on the flickering flames between his palms before grunting and getting back to work.

He'd come to realize Machoke wasn't much of a talker. They got along pretty well and Machoke himself was actually outside of fighting a rather kind pokemon. Last night the pokemon had even offered to sleep beside him and share body heat since the gym was so cold.

Until he made a fire at least. That was when he told Machoke the attack he wanted him to learn in preparation for the forest. They'd work on the electric variety on their way to Cerulean.

Fire Punch was what he was trying to teach the fighting type. It was a bit of a bother though. Since he had no fire types or fire attack users on hand, he'd had to through his own effort make a campfire and get Machoke to collect some of it.

The task was to get a feel for the inner energy of the flames yet at the same time hone his control over those flames. Using his inner energy to nurture the fire, keep it from growing too big, yet at the same time keep it from pittering out. And in the meantime, try spreading it across his hands so the fighting type could actually shape it over his fist when the time came.

Plus, it would help for later on when Machoke went to learn Flamethrower.

Ash wondered what he should teach the fighting pokemon next after Fire Punch and Thunder Punch, 'Mega Kick?' Machoke had little experience using his powerful legs despite their potential. Teaching him Mega Kick and getting him used to fighting with both upper and lower body would much better prepare the fighting type for when Ash got around to teaching him Close Combat.

The odd thing though, was that Viridian Forest was pretty much dead. They hadn't run into a single wild pokemon. And any sounds were rare if there were any at all.

"Where are they all?" Ash wondered to himself aloud. Usually you couldn't go two minutes without tripping over a Caterpie or Weedle. Finding grass types like Oddish and Bellsprout happily prancing around or finding a hiding spot to wait out the inevitable buzzing sound heard in advance from an approaching Beedrill swarm.

Beedrill were everywhere in this forest. By far the most abundant pokemon. Butterfree were much more peaceful and usually migrated out quickly after evolving. Meanwhile Beedrill's just swarmed together in massive groups and controlled the territories were they lived.

That was too bad. Ash had been hoping to catch one while they were in here. Beedrill were decidedly average like most bug type pokemon, but while browsing through their pokedex entry one day he'd come up with a plan to make one quite the formidable battler.

Their main aspect lay in speed. They were very fast. Then while their muscle and attack power wasn't that high on the list, the piercing power of their needle like hands was unmatched. A Beedrill lance could pierce steel even after just evolving. Really besides being average at best in all aspects, their biggest problem lay in defence.

They were glass cannons. Their fine bodies could not take damage well.

But after a bit of research, Ash had learned that not only could they still use Harden, they could actually learn Iron Defense. Capturing one and having it master Iron Defense would make it not only very hardy, but make their lances stronger as well when used in conjunction with the defensive technique.

A cry of triumph behind him made the raven haired boy turn around. He whistled slightly, impressed when he saw the sight of Machoke with one arm raised high and the fist in the air encased in a billowing cloak of red and orange flames.

A perfect attack to be used against most pokemon in the forest.

Then the flame flickered and die out moments later.

Machoke sunk to his knees in an instant, head bowed towards the ground in shame and Ash couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. He made his back back a bit and pat Machoke on the shoulder comfortably, "Don't worry buddy," He consoled his newest pokemon,"You almost had it there which is amazing considering you only started with this about two hours ago."

Which was true. They'd spent the night n the ruined Viridian Gym. For twelve hours they'd trained together to be perfectly in sync to get the Z-moves down. And while right now they were far from perfect, Ash was satisfied for now that they were use able.

Afterwards he'd set up his sleeping bag, and made some food for them both. In his case a few sandwiches and his pokemons, a in of Brock's patented fighting type muscle building chow. Machoke had loved it.

Then this morning they had set off, heading towards Pewter City. His plan was to take on Zapdos. So hi best bet was to catch more new pokemon and train them up. Get them used to fighting high level opponents in gym leaders, get them experience and such, then go after Zapdos.

Machoke sighed slightly but in the end grinned broadly, showing off those sharp and powerful teeth hidden behind his reptilian snout, jumping back up to his feet and ready to continue onwards.

'Still,' Ash mused, the biggest question was at the moment still - where the heck were all the pokemon of the forest?

They were nearly half way through the forest according to his pokedex map. They'd been walking through the forest for a good six or so hours, and it was already starting to get quite dark.

Something very odd was happening here.

Ash was just about to tell Machoke they were stopping to set up camp and that they'd make the rest of the way to Pewter tomorrow. That and that he'd likely be fighting the gym battle for the boulder badge by himself.

That was when he heard it though. The loud ringing noise, the tell tale sign of something hitting against metal and being repelled.

The trainer turned to Machoke, "C'mon," he urged, nudging his shoulder in the direction of the sound, "Looks like we've finally found something," Then he was off, hurrieldy walking in the direction of the sound.

Machoke grunted, but followed along obediently, still absently shaping the flames in his hands over one of if fists.

* * *

It took Ash a good thirty seconds before he reached the area here the sounds were coming from. The closer he got the louder the clanging sounds were and to go along with it now that he was closer were a myriad of deep grunts. Grunts from two separate voices.

He didn't even wait for Machooke who was a few feet behind him, instead bursting into the clearing in full and taking in what was causing the noise.

Pokemon it turned out to be.

Two pokemon at that. A Nidorino growled almost savagely, its head bent down, horn pointed threateningly towards it foes, the poisonous barb itself glowing a dangerous white with what Ash thought was either a Horn Attack or Peck attack.

Nidorino's opponent of all things was oddly of all things a Kakuna. An outline of blue light lightered across the evolve form of Weddle's body. Iron Defense if Ash wasn't wrong. The glow died down but a moment later, a small flap opened at the chrysalis pokemon's face and from it the pokemon launched a barrage of purple jagged needles towards Nidorino.

The horned pokemon merely grunted, agiliy jumping to the side and avoiding the straight and narrow shot, allowing the purple pins of Poison Sting to stab into the grassy ground without issue.

Blue light surged within the four legged pokemon's eyes, icy blue veins of power replacing brown iris' and then Nidorino swept its head in an arch, launching a widespread ray of psychic energy to shoot off.

Kakuna hissed, string shooting from its mouth area again and attached itself to an over hanging tree branch, but before the caccoon pokemon could pull itself up the psychic energy swepped up over it and froze it in place.

A shriek of pain left its mouth area and then with a savage shout Nidorino heaved its head downwards and Kakuna was smashed into the ground with enough force to leave a small crater around its form. The evolved form of Weedle let loose a fet pitiful moans and wiggled a bit, but that was all it could do.

And all the while Ash had wathed wide eyed. "What the hell is going on here?" he blurted out in askance. He didn't actually mean to say it aloud, but the sight was too shocking for him to keep bottled up.

It caught the Nidorino's attention though and it turned towards him, a savage snarl leaving its lips. What was going on? Ash wondered. Why was this Nidorino so aggressive?

"Nido!" it snarled, brown eyes once again in place instead of icy blue psychic energy and then it short forward towards him, horn glowing a bright white once more.

Ash heard foot steps behind him and a plan formed in his mind within an instint. The pros of being a professional trainer with years of situations like this under his belt.

It took mere seconds for Nidorino to cover the distance between them. It was much slower than most pokemon he was accustomed to as well. But that just made Ash's job easier.

The second it was in range, the poison pokemon lunged at him, horn first. Ash rolled back at the last moment, falling under the poison type and then while it lunged above him, he struck up with two boot blad feet and crushed them into its stomach.

A pained gasp left its mouth, but it not no respite because as soon as he truck, Ash continued with an order for the fighting typing following behind him, "Knock Off!" he commanded.

The Nidorino didn't even get the chance to glimpse the one that finished it off. As Machoke came down with all the fury of a pokemon who's trainer had been attacked, bringing down a fist crackling with black lightning and pulverizing the Nidorino into the ground hard enough to leave the ground shaking.

As athetlic as he was, Ash didn't even need the use of his hands or feet to get back up and just threw himself upwards with his back muscles up on to his feet, dusting himself off as he turned to look at his pokemon and the one they'd just taken down together. "What the hell was that about?" he wondered once more.

Either way, he knew he couldn't leave something that aggressive prowling the Viridian Forest, his world or not. A lot of newbie trainers came through this way and this thing could have seriously hurt them if it had run into them,

Grabbing a pokeball from his pocket, Ash pressed the red and white sphere to the downed pokemon and sucked it in. It didn't even put up a fight. Just letting off a little ping for a successful capture.

"Now let's see if we can find anthing out shall we?" the raven haired trainer mused. He brought up the pokedex and hit the scan fanfunction while pointing it at the pokeball.

"Nidorino, the Poison Pin Pokémon. The evolved form of the male Nidoran. Its highly developed horn is extremely powerful."

Pokemon Species - Nidorino

Nickname - N/A

Gender - Male

Height - 3'02

Weight - 48.6 lbs

Attacks Known - Horn Attack, Peck, Double Kick, Confusion

Ability - Hustle

Level - 16

Level 16! This thing was higher even than Machoke! And not to mention it knew Confusion as well? A psychic type attack? How the heck did that happen?

More importantly, once again a wild pokemon had appeared around the vicinity of Viridian where they weren't known to roam. Nidorino were known to travel in large herds out on the open plains. Why would this one be alone and in the Viridian Forest at that?

And that aggression. Machoke had been very aggressive when they first met as well he remembered, but had been to injured to put up much of a fight against his advances. Not to mention once again it knew an odd move out, Machoke with Knock off and now Nidorino with with Confusion. And on top of that, both pokemon were certaintly quite a bit bigger than the average race of their species.

The question was. Was someone behind this, or was it just coincidence?

He shook those thoughts off. Right now there was once again another important factor going on at the moment. The injured Kakuna.

Quickly clipping his new pokemon's ball to his belt, Ash rushed over to the downed poison bug pokemon and gently scooped it up. It chittered, trying to get away but was in no shape or form to try. He laid a soothing hand at the top of its carapace and rubbed gently, "There there little buddy," the amber eyed teen whispered softly to the pokemon, keeping his tone ever so gentle, "I caught the Nidorino, he won't be able to hurt you again."

At the mention of Nidorino being captured, the chrysalis pokemon stilled and seemed to relax a bit into his warm embrace. People often asked how he knew they did that when chrysalis pokemon were covered entirely in hard shells. But to Ash, it was just kind of instinctive and experience he'd gained when raising his Butterfree way back when.

"Now don't worry," he told the pokemon in his arms, "Me and my buddy Machoke here are going to get you patched up and heathly again." He pointed at Machoke who kind of gave an awkward wave.

He was an awkward guy. Liked to train and fight. Didn't have much thought for anything else in that noggin of his. Very pleasant pokemon once the initial aggression had been seen through as well.

He reached the side pocket of his backpack, the space he'd moved the super potion to after last night, he'd had a funny feeling e'd be needing it on hand and surprise surprise, he did. He grasped the orange and red bottle tightly and held it up to Kakuna's body, "Now this will sting for a moment," he said, "Butit'll take care of all your injuries." Thankfully, all the ouchies this pokemon had a the current moment were physical bruises and a few scraped places.

He sprayed over the pokemon's bobd and predictably it jerked slightly, hissing in displeasure for a few seconds. Wild pokemon always had that reaction to their first healing spray. But as the wounds began to sizzle and heal, Ash doubted it would mind baring with the few seconds of stinging pain.

He placed the super potion back in the holster pocket on his bag and then stood up. Setting Kakuna down beside the tree it had been trying to escape into earlier with String Shot before it had been caught and brutally slammed to the ground with Confusion.

He pat the pokemon one last time on the head, gave it a fond smile and then waved Machoke on to follow behind him, "There we go little guy," ash said with a kind smile, "Now don't go picking any more fights with guys like that Nidorino till you're a big and powerful Beedrill alright?"

And with that they were off.

They didn't even get a few feet away before panicked cries came from the Kakuna, "Ka-ka-ka!" it rattled. Kakuna's mouth was actually the most tightly bound of all chrysalis pokemon Ash remembered Brock telling him once.

He turned around, worry filling him for a moment thinking that another aggressive pokemon like Nidorino had shown up. But no, it was just Kakuna wriggling against the tree, dark black eyes panicked.

Ash was about to make his way back over and see what was wrong when the middle staged pokemon erupted into a bright, familiar white light. The raven haired teen had to fight off a grin of nostalgia, how many times had he seen Kakuna evolve? The first memorable time saving Metapod when a whole swarm of them evolved and Butterfree evolved from Metapod.

Good days man, good days. He missed his first ever captured pokemon. Wondered and hoped he was doing well with his mate wherever they were.

Kakuna's size grew. Thin legs took form, large buzzing wings and twin lance like objects for arms. In the chrysalis pokemon's place now fluttered a Beedrill, "Hey that was quick!" Ash gushed with a laugh, Machoke beside him gave an awed nod and thumbs up, "Guess you'll have noving to fear now eh?"

To his surprise though, Beedrill buzzed on over beside him and rose one of its lance stingers. Ash saw Machoke tense at his side but waved him off, sensing nothing malicious about the action. With bright happy red eyes, the newly evolved pokemon poked one of the pokeballs at his belt, and then at itself.

"Ah," Ash realized and was almost kicking himself for not realizing sooner, "Wanna come along with us then?" he asked.

Beedrill nodded its head, but Ash frowned, "You realize I captured that Nidorino too as well right?" he asked, "You'll have to be around him."

"Bee-beedrill!" Beedrill shook its head vigorously. Then pointed one lnace arm off to the side. It glew a bright white before an arrow of white power exploded forward as a projectile and stabbed deep into a tree, leaving a large gouge behind.

Ash smiled, "Point taken." Beedrill wasn't just a defenceless cacoon now.

"Well alright then, if you're sure." Ash said. Pulling out another pokeball, he enlarged it and without ceremony touched it to Beedrill's chest. The dual typing of bug and poison was sucked inside and the ping of successful capture was let loose in an instant.

"One more time I suppose," Ash mused, pulling his pokedex out once again and aming it at his newest pokemon's pokeball, then he hit scan.

"Beedrill, the Poison Bee Pokémon. Beedrill fly quickly and attack using poison stingers on their forelegs and tail."

Pokemon Species - Beedrill

Nickname - N/A

Gender - Male

Height - 3'03

Weight - 65 lbs

Attacks Known - Poison Sting, String Shot, Iron Defense, Twin Needle, Pin Missile

Ability - Sniper

Level - 10

Well at the very least, one of his pokemon matched up with normal data. Kakuna evolved at level 10 in the games. They learned Twin Needle instantly upon evolving. Poison String and String Shot were obviously from his time as a Weedle and Pin Missile a newly learned attack upon evolution, nothing new there.

The odd thing out was Iron Defense. Uusually Kakuna just learned Harden upon evolving. Was his just lucky, or might it have been a move evolution? They sometimes happened under duress in Ash's experience - Ember becoming Flamethrower, Water Gun becoming Hydro Pump - did Harden become Iron Defense due to Kakuna now Beedrill needing to defend himself against Nidorino and his aggressive attacking?

He did find himself smiling though when he realized that all that effort into researching Beedrill had paid off and he hadn't even really needed to do any work or train Beedrill to learn Iron Defense at all. Nidorino done it all for him.

The thought of Nidorino caused that smile to die an instant death though. It occurred to him, that there was no way he could a pokemon that aggressive out into public with him when they reached Pewter City, which was kind of annoying since he may need the poison type for the gym battle. He highly doubted he could teach Beedrill Brick Break or Solarbeam in the span of a day after all.

He'd need to hopefully break the middle stage poison type of its aggressive stance tonight during dinner. Otherwise, he'd just have to try and teach Beedrill Brick Break in the span of a night and he didn't really think he'd be able to get Beedrill to toughen up his small arms and lances to that degree in one night.

And it was night, so year Solarbeam was out of the question.

Ash smacked himself in the face with his palm, "Oh duh!" he realized, it was still day right now and would be for a for a few hours. Solbaream was more power related than ability. If Beedrill could handle it, well they'd be jamming.

"Come on out Beedrill!" Ash said, taking one of the pokeballs of his belt and releasing his newest pokemon out beside him and Machoke. The fighting type still had to work on Fire Punch after all.

* * *

Hours later when night fell and it was time to set up camp. Ash patiently waited and let Machoke set up the fire for this night. Allowing the fighting type a few minutes to generate flames around his fist and drop it into the pit of kindling and make up their camp fire.

Ash himself didn't bother with setting up his tent for the night. From what he could see, it didn't look like there would be any rain and even if there was, a light shower never hurt anybody, he'd had much worse and completely out of nowhere things happened to him travelling before, so a little rin would be a mild convenience at best.

He grabbed his sleeping bag and laid it down beside the camp fire, before grrabbing three of the stacked bowls in his bag and setting them out. While he went about setting up, Machoke sat before the fire, continuin with his training and getting a better feel for the heat on his hands.

Beedrill meanwhile buzzed around him in cruiosity, looking over every little thing he did with keen interest now that the sun was down and he had no longer had to learn to harness the energy rays of the sun.

Ash actually thought the newly caught pokemon done really well, even leveled up according to his pokedex. He even had this like, little pose he did when collecting energy from the sun and firing it. It was actually kind of both funny and cute at the same time.

He grabbed one of the jars of Brock's multi purpose pokemon food - patented so don't even try it Team Rocket - and filled the three bowls with it. Picking one up, he handed it to Machoke he took it in one hand absently.

Then he sat one in front of Beedrill and pointed towards the yellow pokemon, "This one's yours, so have at it." he said and went to move on.

Beedrill plopped down before the food, but turned his head to look at Ash and buzzed in a tone he'd come to learn meant curiosity. He was probably wondering what Ash was going to do now.

He smiled and patted the pokemon on the head affectionately, "I'm just gonna deal with Nidorino real quick okay?" he told hisnewest pokemon, "You enjoy your meal."

A buzz of displeasure was released at the name of his attacker, but Beedrill did not get up. Merely looked at Ash with wide, nervous eyes. He had seen how strong Nidorino was first hand after all.

But Ash merely chuckled, "No need to worry," he laughed, "Nidorino's a thousand levels to low to be able to take me on as he is now." he assured the bug pokemon.

Apparently his confidence was enough to assure his pokemon nicely since the newly evolved bee pokemon let him go on his way and turned his own attention back to his food.

Ash made his way to the center of the clearing, away from the other two and set Nidorino's own bowl down. He was honestly curious as to how this was going to pan out. And he was completely truthuful with what he said to Beedrill.

Yes Nidorino's horn was dangerous, an it had that surprise Confusion attack. But Ash wasn't worried, it was a poison type that didn't even know a poison attack. He could no doubt out muscle it and as he saw earlier, it was so much slower than what he was used to dealing with he could have ran circles around him with his feet tied together.

Actually, speaking of Nidorino's horn, that reminded him of something Gary taught him when he got back from Unova, the young OAk researcher had been tending to his own Nidoking and imparted upon him a few things about their species as a whole for if the time ever came he caught one of his own.

Thank you Gary!

Grabbing the pokeball from his belt, Ash released the pokemon inside. He didn't shout loudly, or exhubarantly, he merely stated, "Come out, Nidorino."

In a burst of light the pokemon appeared.

Nidorino appeared before him in all his spiny glory. A snarl on his lips. The pokemon caught site of him, merely a few inches away and stepped back to lunge.

Lesson number 1 - Established dominance. Who was calling the shots and who was the pack leader.

Before Nidorino could even get one step back Ash shot his hand out, quick as lightning and wrapped his hand tightly around the middle, forcing the pokemon to pause. It tried to tug, but this was where Ash's personal strength came in to play, and he meant it literally.

It tugged and tugged, snarled angrily and bucked but could not shake Ash's hand off. Finally, it settled on staring at him fearfully, as if acknowledging that he was that much stronger and could do what he liked with it.

Lesson Number 2 - Establish a rapport. Whether that be through free, a boss to his subordinate or something else.

Lesson Number 3 - The Nidoking line as a whole have a soft spot behind their most spined ear that when massaged gently gave them great bursts of pleasure and was very comforting for them.

Ash used lesson two and three at once. His hand left Nidorino's horn and immediately reached up over behind its ear. Ash felt the spongy flesh just as Gary had described it to him a while back. He rubbed along it softly and almost instantly, Nidorino collapsed on his hind quarters, leaning in to his touch as if in a trance.

"Hey there buddy," Ash spoke softly just as he had with Beedrill earlier, getting the pokemon to look at him through bleary brown iris', "I don't know what had you so riled up earlier, that had you so afraid." And it was afraid, Ash had seen it in the poison types eyes. It had been afraid and attacking Kakuna because it was afraid of being attacked itself he assumed.

That just made him wonder where the hell it and Machoke came from in the first place. And where the heck all the other forest pokemon were?

With his free hand Ash grabbed the third bowl full of food and held it up to the pokemon he was scratching behind the ear, "Come along with me, get some food in you and become my pokemon," he told it softly, "I'll make you strong enough that you'll never have to fear anything like you did before."

In the end, there really wasn't much else Nidorino could say in face to that now was there? And Ash's party grew to three within the span of two days and tomorrow he'd be heading off to take on the Pewter City Gym Challenge.

He wondered idly, would it still be Brock in this world? Was there another Misty? Was there another Ash Ketchum? He hoped that if there were he was nothing like his wimpy mirror world counterpart self.

* * *

 **Ash's Pokemon**

Machoke - Level 14 - Male - Guts - Attacks Known: Low Kick, Karate Chop, Seismic Toss, Knock Off, Fire Punch

Nidorino - Level 16 - Male - Hustle - Attacks Known - Horn Attack, Peck, Double Kick, Confusion

Beedrill - Level 12 - Male - Sniper - Attacks Known - Poison Sting, String Shot, Iron Defense, Twin Needle, Pin Missile, Solarbeam

* * *

 **Two whole new captures in one chapter, Lots of things are happening, lots of moves are being learned and Ash is sure something is going on around Viridian City. In the end, I decided not to have him get the Dratini, but would ya look at that, he has two poison types, what the hell Ash?**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed. Review if you liked it and I'll see ya next chapter!**


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